Look, a movie is nothing if not held by characters. Your characters need to carry the film. Your story can be interesting, but if your characters are flat, I will not enjoy the film all that much. In Civil War, the film is 100% carried by character dynamics. The ideologies of Steve and Tony, Bucky's sympathetic nature, Scarlet Witch afraid of her own powers, Vision getting accustomed to humanity, Black Widow's caring nature + T'Challa and Spider-Man. Virtually every character was a scene stealer.

That's what made Civil War such a great film. Not the action, or the fan service. Yes, those elevate the movie into something incredible, but I will not care all that much if not for the characters. And in this case, Civil War was great because you got to watch each character unfold in their own way. It was fantastic.

The Winter Soldier ISN'T bad, but not a whole lot stood out, IMO. With the exception of some great set pieces, the film was average-to-above average. Partially because I do not find the characters all that interesting.

@theamazingspidey: Vision getting accustomed to humanity, Spider-Man's involvement and Wanda being afraid of her powers wasn't all that necessary. That's what makes Winter Soldier better, everything that occurs is important to the story and moves it forward.

I really enjoyed the action scenes in TWS but most of the fights in CW were just as or even more impressive as the ones in the previous film, likely due to the scale of them. I really enjoyed the introduction of Bucky as a villain in TWS but I also had a lot of fun in watching each character choose their side in CW as well as the premier of Black Panther. They're pretty similar in my eyes.

Not really a fair question as TWS hasn't really had a sequel. I know CW is billed that way, but c'mon, that was an Avengers movie. Still, TWS was better than CW, CW had quite a few faults folks over-look because...I don't know why, maybe because it's an MCU movie? To be fair, so did TWS. That said, both were good movies but I liked TWS better.

@theamazingspidey: Vision getting accustomed to humanity, Spider-Man's involvement and Wanda being afraid of her powers wasn't all that necessary. That's what makes Winter Soldier better, everything that occurs is important to the story and moves it forward.

Spider-Man is having a movie later.

Vision and Wanda arcs would've worked better in another film.

From one movie fan to another, I find everything occurring being important to the story a bit overrated.

Vision and Wanda's story arcs ensure that they feel like 3-dimensional people. Not just characters.

Spider-Man is just a TON of fun.

Besides, Vision and Wanda didn't detract from the overall quality of the film. The ideological conflict between Iron Man and Captain America is still explored.

When your story is more layered then your characters, it's usually a problem. The Winter Soldier is that.

@theamazingspidey: I personally felt like Vision and Wanda did damage the overall quality, if I truly want to pick the film apart. Their scenes together just felt like they were added to extend the length of the film, what we got from their characters could've been told in Infinity War...easily.

Winter Soldier problems were so minor, because they didn't have to deal with so many characters being in a Captain America film. Everyone felt important.

The way Spider-Man was added into Civil War plot was extremely forced. Nothing in its predecessor felt like that, the entire movie felt natural.

@theamazingspidey: I personally felt like Vision and Wanda did damage the overall quality, if I truly want to pick the film apart. Their scenes together just felt like they were added to extend the length of the film, what we got from their characters could've been told in Infinity War...easily.

Winter Soldier problems were so minor, because they didn't have to deal with so many characters being in a Captain America film. Everyone felt important.

The way Spider-Man was added into Civil War plot was extremely forced. Nothing in its predecessor felt like that, the entire movie felt natural.

That still doesn't explain why you believe that the development of Vision and Wanda hurt the film. Because it - the film - still explored the psychology of Tony Stark and Steve Rogers to a sufficient degree. The primary focus of the film.

If we were left with the film of poor logic and character development, your case would be registrable. But in this case, we got an ideological conflict which made it very difficult to pick a side. That is the main focus of the film, and seeing as it succeeded in that regard, the overall quality of the film was not hurt.

Besides, Wanda being held in solitary is integral to fleshing out her motivations.

Here's the thing. The story can be the greatest thing dropped on the superhero genre, but if i) characters are more layered than plot and ii) I simply don't care.

The Winter Soldier suffered in both of these aspects, and Civil War excelled where The Winter Soldier could not.

1) Characters are more layered than plot: Yes, this applies to Civil War. You continuously praise TWS for a plot in which every story beat matter. Eventually, I think it boils down to personal preference. Every thing you disliked about Civil War, I loved. I love that they developed Wanda and Vision because they felt like people, not movie characters.

2) I simply don't care: No matter how good a story is, I can only appreciate it so much if it doesn't matter to me. The Winter Soldier ISN'T a bad story. It's actually quite thrilling in parts. But I didn't care a lot for it. Spider-Man is in Civil War, but I care. Because I NEVER thought I'd see Spider-Man side by side with the Avengers any sooner. But I did.

Nah, enjoyed Civil War a lot more. Character dynamics and motives were pitch perfect, story was a lot more emotional and deep, arguably the best villain in the MCU, Spider-Man, and the best fight scene in a CBM.

Nah, enjoyed Civil War a lot more. Character dynamics and motives were pitch perfect, story was a lot more emotional and deep, arguably the best villain in the MCU, Spider-Man, and the best fight scene in a CBM.

Winter Soldier didn't do nearly as much for me by comparison.

This summarises my thoughts to an extremely relatable degree.

That's also exactly how I feel about The Winter Soldier. It didn't do a whole lot for me. In contrast to Civil War, which pulled off everything you cited.